Thread control for bobbins in magazines



Jan. 4, 1949. R. G. TURNER THREAD CONTROL FOR BOBBINS IN MAGAZINES Filed Oct. 18, 1947 INVENTOR RICHARD 6. TURNER 64. W

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 4, 1949 THREAD CONTROL FOR BOBBINS IN MAGAZINES Richard G. Turner, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 18, 1947, Serial No. 780,673

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in reserve bobbin magazines for weft replenishing looms and it is the general object of the invention to provide means effective to prevent uncoiling of the weft from the bobbins while they await transfer in the magazine.

In a well-known type of reserve bobbin magazine for weft replenishing looms the bobbins move down the guideways by gravity towards a transfer position. The bobbins are wound with a mass of weft which is cylindrical throughout the greater part of its length but terminates in a conical end portion near the tip of the bobbin. As the bobbins await transfer the coils at their conical ends tend to unwind and form a small knot or the like which will not enter the shuttle eye on the first pick after transfer. As a result the thread frequently breaks and the loom stops, thus defeating one of the purposes of an automatic loom.

It is an important object of the present invention to prevent unwinding of the coils of yarn on the conical ends of the bobbins by means of flexible material, such as natural or artificial fur,

. which is moved down along the guideway by the bobbins as they descend in such manner as to avoid substantial movement of the fur relatively to the bobbins.

It is another object of the invention to provide the mass of deformable material or fur in the form of an endless guided belt so that a part thereof will have close holding engagement with respect to the conical ends of the bobbins and be moved by the latter as they descend incident to bobbin transfer operations. This result may be accomplished by having rolls or the like for the belt rotatable on the magazine.

It is a further object of the invention to cut the mass of bobbin engaging fibers or hairs obliquely to conform more or less to the angle of the cone of weft on the bobbin. In this way a substantially uniform pressure is exerted on the cone throughout its length to prevent uncoiling of the weft and a suficiently firm holding relation is created between the bobbins and the fibers to cause them to move around the aforesaid rolls by the descending bobbins.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. i is a front elevation of part of a reserve bobbin magazine loaded with bobbins and having 2 my invention applied thereto, a conventional form of thread holder being shown for the weft ends,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section online 2-4, Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 3 is a detailed section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The rocking magazine M in connection with which the invention is illustrated is of a type which has gone into extensive use and supplies two different kinds of bobbins. The magazine includes an inner or butt end plate l0 having provision at II for pivotal mounting. The outer or tip plate i2 is spaced from the inner plate and two stacks of reserve bobbins extend in a more or less horizontal direction between the plates, as indicated in Fig. 1. The front stack is designated at FS, see Fig. 2, while the other or back stack is designated at BS. Tie rods i3 shown in section in Fig. 2 hold the two plates Iii and 12 together and cause them to rock in unison.

The plate i 2 is provided with front and back bobbin tip grooves or guideways i5 and i6, respectively, which receive the tip ends ll of their respective bobbins. The left ends of the bobbins as shown in Fig. 1 are provided with butts or heads I8 which move down guideways not specifically illustrated but wider than guideways i5 and i5.

Plate i2 supports two guide wires the front one of which is indicated at 20 and is connected at its upper end to the forward upper part of plate H as at 2|, while the lower part thereof is connected as at 22 to the forward bottom part of plate l2. In similar manner, the rear thread guide wire 25 is connected as at 26 to the top of the rear of plate l2 and its lower end is connected as at 21 to the bottom of the plate. These wires may both be inclined downwardly and to the left as viewed in Fig. 1, and the weft ends W led from the bobbins of each stack around the corresponding wire and then toward a thread holder designated generally at H. This holder.

may be of the pneumatic type such as has already been proposed by me, although the specific form of thread holder is immaterial.

Each bobbin has wound thereon a mass of weft or yarn Y the greater part of which is cylindrical as will beapparent from Fig. 1. Each yarn mass ends in a conical end section C which is tapered toward the tip I! of the bobbin. Each weft-end W leads from some part of its cone C around the associated guide wire and thence to the thread holder. Yielding bobbin tip supports are indicated at it.

The matter thus far described may be of usual construction and of itself forms no part of my present invention. The coils of weft tend to unwind from the conical ends C and form thick places or knots in the weft ends which are likely to be broken by the tension pads of the shuttle not shown on the first pick after transfer. It is the general purpose of the present invention to provide means for preventing this objectionable unwinding, or limiting it to such an extent that it does not permit the formation of knots of objectionable size.

In carrying the invention into effect I provide front and back endless belts 30 and 3i having deformable hairs, fibers, or threads designated at 32. The belts may be made either of natural furor of pile fabric, but in either event the fibers will be attached to a band or base 33 which is flexible. The front belt is guided by top and bottom rolls 35 and 36, respectively, which are mounted for rotation on studs 31 and 38, respectively. In similar manner the rear endless belt 3| is guided by top and bottom rolls 4!] and 4| rotatable on studs 42 and 43, respectively.

The rolls may all be alike and have the same type of mounting, such as is shown in Fig. 3 wherein the lower, front roll 36 is shown in detail. Stud 38 extends through a wall 46 formed as part of the outside magazine plate l2 and is held in adjusted position by nuts 41 and 4B. The stud has a stem 49 of small diameter on which the roll 35 is rotatably mounted, and head 50 limits end motion of the roll.

Each mass of fibers 32 is preferably cut obliquely to the axis of the roll around which it moves, as indicated at 55 in Fig. 3, to conform to the conical end C of the yarn packages on the corresponding bobbins. The fibers are preferably long enough to extend between adjacent bobbins, as indicated at 5| in Fig. 2, thereby permitting each bobbin to become embedded to some extent into the adjacent mass of fibers for the purpose of establishing close frictional engagement therewith. If desired the flexible band or base 33 may be of sufficient length to permit a small amount of slackness at the bottom rolls 36 and II to enable the endless belts to move freely. The amount of slackness should not be enough to prevent close engagement between the fibers 32 and the bobbins.

As shown in Fig. 2, the right hand part of endless belt 30 engages the bobbins of the front stack FS, While the left hand part of the other endless belt 3| engages the bobbins of the rear stack BS. Whenever the bottom bobbin of either stack is transferred the superposed bobbins move down by gravity and because of their frictional contact with the fibers 32 cause the adjacent part of the associated belt to move downwardly. Thus, as indicated in Fig. 2, the right hand part of belt 30 will move downwardly in the direction of arrow (1 whenever the bobbins from the front stack descend incident to transfer of the lowest of the front group of bobbins, and in similar manner the a left hand part of belt 3l will move down in the direction of arrow b whenever the bobbins of the rear stack descend. This downward movement of those parts of the belts adjacent to the bobbins is caused by frictional engagement of the bobbins with the fibers, and this frictional engagement is suificient to prevent unwinding of the coils of yarn from the conical part C of the bobbins, and also prevent substantial relative movement between the bobbins and the parts of the belts which they engage as the bobbins descend.

nection with a magazine adapted to supply two different types of bobbins, I am not necessarily limited to such a magazine, and although the belts have been described as being made either of natural or manufactured fibers 32, I amnot necessarily thus limited so long as each belt has a deformable surface which prevents uncoiling of the yarns from the conical parts of the bobbins and etsablishes sufficient holding relation with the bobbins to cause the belt to move when the corresponding stack of bobbins descends. The rolls are so placed as to hold one side of their corresponding endless belt more or less parallel to the associated guideway and stack of bobbins,

and to this extent the rolls'not-only provide for."

free movement of the belts but also hold themin proper position to carry out the purposes of the invention. It is not essential that the fibers 32 engage only the conical parts 0 of the bobbins, nor will it be essential in all instances that the entire length of the conical part C of the yarn be in contact with the fibers 32.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided simple means to prevent uncoiling of the weft from the conical parts C of bobbins awaiting transfer in a reserve bobbin magazine for a weft replenishin loom. The fibers 32 establish suflicient frictional engagement with the bobbins so that the latter in descendin can cause movement of the associated endless belt without substantial relative movement with respect to the bobbins. Furthermore, the fibers may be cut obliquely as at 55 to conform to the conical ends C of the yarn on the bobbins. The fibers 32 also tend to resist any tendency which the bobbins may have to rotate on their axes, and since the frictional engagement between the conical parts of the yarn and the fibers 32 holds the coils of weft from unwinding the invention is, equally useful with bobbins which have either regular or reverse wind.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the, details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1 In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, a mass of soft deformable material extending along said guideway in frictional engagement with the conical ends of said weft packages, and means mounting said deformable material for movement along the guideway by the bobbins due to engagement with the latter as the bobbins move down said guideway. 2. In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, an endless mass of soft deformable material having part thereof extending along said guideway in frictional engagement with the conical ends of the bobbins, and means mounting said material for movement of said part thereof alon said guideway, the bobbins When moving down said guideway causing said part of the material due to frictional contact therewith to move downwardly along said guideway without substantial relative movement with respect to the bobbins.

3. In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, a mass of soft deformable material in the form of an endless belt having a part thereof extending along said guideway, and guide means mounting said belt with said part thereof in frictional engage.- ment with the conical ends of said weft packages so that the bobbins when moving down the guideway cause movement of the belt around said guide means and cause said part thereof to move downwardly with the bobbins.

4. In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, a mass of soft deformable material in the form of an endless belt having a part thereof extending along said guideway, and guide means comprising a pair of spaced rolls rotatably mounted on the magazine and mounting said belt with said part thereof in frictional engagement with the conical ends of said weft packages so that the bobbins when moving down the guideway cause movement of the belt around said rolls and cause said part of the belt to move downwardly with the bobbins.

5. In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, a belt having a part extending along the guideway and having a wardly along said guideway by the bobbins as the latter move toward transfer position.

6. In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, a flexible belt having a part extending along the guideway and having a mass of deformable fibers extending therefrom into frictional engagement with the conical ends of said weft packages, and means mounting the belt for movement of said part thereof downwardly along said guideway by the bobbins as the latter move toward transfer position, the mass of fibers being cut obliquely relatively to the axes of the bobbins to conform to the conical ends of the weft package.

mass of deformable fibers extending therefrom a into frictional engagement with the conical ends of said weft packages, and means mounting the belt for movement of said part thereof down- 7. In a weft replenishing loom magazine formed with a guideway down which reserve bobbins wound with conical ended weft packages move by gravity toward transfer position, a belt having a flexible endless band supporting a mass of deformable fibers part of which extend along I the guideway in frictional contact with the adiacent parts of the conical ends of the weft packages, and roll means rotatable on the magazine and around which the band extends, the bobbins when descending along the guideway causing the parts of the mass of fibers in engagement therewith to move down along the guideway and cause a the band to move around and rotate said rolls.

RICHARD G. TURNER.

No references cited. 

